Featured J!Buzz

Sometimes the most pleasant surprises on set take place in between filming. One day, at Stage 10, an audience member raised his hand during a commercial break. When Alex called on him – as he always does when taking questions from the audience – the speaker told a story unlike any we’ve heard on set before. His name was Chris Jacobs, he was a resident of Washington D.C., and he met his estranged half-sister by being a 1995 Teen Tournament semifinalist.

“My sister wrote me a letter several years later [after seeing him on TV] saying that she was watching the program in Seattle. She said she never watches Jeopardy! and just happened to turn it on that day…saw my name and my hometown and thought it might be her half-brother.

She later wrote to the newspaper, because this was 1995, and got the press clipping with my parents’ name in it. She said, ‘Oh my god, that’s my half-brother!’

Several years later, she wrote to me. I got a letter in the mail, totally out the blue, saying, ‘By the way, you don’t know me, but I’m your half-sister.’ And I met her.

She actually lives close to me in the Washington D.C. area. We’ve stayed in touch and it’s a wonderful story. I won $5,000, but I also won a sister by being on Jeopardy! and Ken Jennings has nothing on that.”

After a few decades on the air, we’ve seen a lot happen on Jeopardy!, but this was a first. We love to entertain, but serendipitous situations like this one give us a special kind of joy.

To the reunited siblings: congratulations! We’re so happy that Jeopardy! can help bring people together.

Has Jeopardy! created any similarly special discoveries or occurrences in your life? We’d love to hear. Message us on Facebook.